New Realities: TFA at 25 - Education Week

New Realities: TFA at 25 - Education Week:

New Realities: TFA at 25

 Teach For America marks its 25th anniversary this year. Conceived in an undergraduate thesis in 1989, the controversial teaching organization now commands a budget of some $300 million and has 40,000 alumni, many of whom have become been influential leaders in K-12 education. But the group has also faced criticism and internal challenges. In this special package, we look at recent changes TFA has embarked on as it enters a new era and the questions they raise about its model, impact, and future course.

At 25, Teach For America Enters Period of Change

Among other new initiatives, the famously protective organization has quietly begun devolving more authority to its 52 regions, some of which are pushing the boundaries of the group's model. 
Read the Story

Outside the Classroom, TFA Leaves Increasingly Complex Political Trail

The organization is putting a greater emphasis on equity and racial issues, even as its bona fides as a social-justice organization are fiercely contested.Read the Story

TFA Tests Waters on Improving Retention

A number of TFA's regions are experimenting with strategies for extending corps members' tenure in teaching beyond two years. Read the Story

Pilot Gives TFA Recruits Pre-Training in Cultural Competency

The Education for Justice program, taken by select TFA candidates during their senior year of college, is based on feedback from principals, parents, and teacher educators. Read the Story

VIDEO

At 25, TFA Bridges Teaching Generations

Teacher Wanda Troutman was a member of Teach For America’s original 1990 corps. Alejandro Diasgranados entered teaching through TFA in 2015. We asked them to talk about their experiences in teaching and the way the organization has changed in 25 years. Watch the Video

MAP

25 Years of TFA Growth: A Regional Map

TFA began by placing fewer than 400 hundred teachers in eight cities. Now, it places thousands each year across 52 different regions. View the Map

INTERACTIVE

Teach For America: Growing More Diverse

Chart shows the percentage of incoming Teach for America Corps members by diversity and gender. 
View the Interactive

INTERACTIVE

Teach For America by the Numbers

Charts outline year-by-year data on TFA's budget, applicants, corps size, and corps members' two-year completion rates. View the Interactive

TIMELINE

Milestones in TFA's 25-Year History

The interactive timeline highlights key turning points in the organization's development. View the Timelin

More Lessons on the Journalist/ Educator Divide – the becoming radical

More Lessons on the Journalist/ Educator Divide – the becoming radical:

More Lessons on the Journalist/ Educator Divide

During my recent round of confronting the failures of mainstream media and journalists covering US public education (see here, here, and here), I have had some of my worst fears confirmed, but have also discovered a few new lessons.

I was disappointed to read some Tweets that suggested that the reason journalists do not include more (or usually any) teacher voices is the fault of educators: teachers not willing to go on record, teachers failing to meet the journalist’s deadline.

This deflecting of professional responsibility and blame prove my central point that journalists simply do not understand education well enough to cover it adequately or fairly.

K-12 public school teachers are increasingly losing any semblance of job security—one aspect of which is the traditional charge that teachers not be political, not be advocates in the public realm. Journalists must have a greater sense of awareness and compassion for those conditions, and then seek ways to make it possible for teachers to be a major part of the public discussion about education.

An alternative, however, that I often present is that there is no absence of professors and researchers who are able to speak publicly while also having a much higher level of expertise More Lessons on the Journalist/ Educator Divide – the becoming radical:

Malloy and Wyman – Montclair, N.J. public officials respect parents – why won’t you? - Wait What?

Malloy and Wyman – Montclair, N.J. public officials respect parents – why won’t you? - Wait What?:

Malloy and Wyman – Montclair, N.J. public officials respect parents – why won’t you?

A growing number of parents (and educators) understand that the Common Core standardized testing frenzy is bad for students, teachers and public schools.

Recognizing that they have a fundamental and inalienable right to protect their children from the unfair, inappropriate and discriminatory Common Core tests, hundreds of thousands of parents across the country have been opting their child out of the destructive Common Core testing scheme.

In New York State last year, nearly a quarter of a million parents opted their children out of that state’s Common Core testing farce.

While Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy and his administration misleads, lies and threatens parents, teachers and school administrators in an unethical attempt to derail the opt out movement in the Constitution State; public officials in other states actually take action to respect the will of their constituents.

For example, in Montclair, New Jersey the Board of Education approved, on a vote of 6 to 0, a resolution honoring a parent’s right to opt their child out of the testing program and directing the “Montclair School District to provide an alternative learning plan for children Malloy and Wyman – Montclair, N.J. public officials respect parents – why won’t you? - Wait What?:

Chris Christie didn't actually get rid of Common Core in New Jersey.

Chris Christie didn't actually get rid of Common Core in New Jersey.:

Chris Christie Claims He Got Rid of Common Core in New Jersey. That’s Baloney.

In Thursday night’s Republican debate, Sen. Marco Rubio made a pointed attack against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, accusing one of his main rivals for a top spot in the New Hampshire primary of being pro–Common Core. Christie, though, thought he had a killer response: “Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey.” Too bad for Christie, the actual standards that constitute Common Core are still alive and well in his state. All Christie eliminated was the name.

In September 2011, Christie sent out a gushing press release about the Common Core standards, saying they would “equip [children] with the skills they need for college and a career.” By 2015 when he was gearing up for a run before a Republican primary electorate that considers Common Core to be anathema, Christie stood in front of an audience and said those standards were “simply not working.”

I was a teacher in New Jersey when Christie first started hemming and hawing over Common Core's waning national popularity. But not a single teacher I knew panicked. They knew he wasn't serious—and they were right. New Jersey is still using the exact same tests as before, ones that are aligned with the exact same Common Core standards for what students should master by each grade level. Christie may no longer call New Jersey’s educational standards “Common Core,” but for students in the state there is absolutely no difference.

In his 2015 announcement that New Jersey’s testing standards would be changed, Christie said he wanted new recommendations by the end of the year, which itself was a significant indication that he never intended to alter the standards in any serious way. Coming up with an entirely new set of standards takes years, not months. For Christie, Common Core was always intended to stay intact, with or without the name.

This tactic of conservative governors rejecting the unpopular-in-red-states name while keeping the substance isn’t new. Of the more than 40 states that have adopted the Common Core, one-third of them are now calling it something else, almostChris Christie didn't actually get rid of Common Core in New Jersey.:

Can Netflix CEO's $100-million education fund avoid big-donor pitfalls? - Yahoo News

Can Netflix CEO's $100-million education fund avoid big-donor pitfalls? - Yahoo News:

Can Netflix CEO's $100-million education fund avoid big-donor pitfalls?

The Netflix co-founder and CEO has announced the creation of a $100-million fund for education philanthropy. The Hastings Fund's first gifts will go toward scholarship programs for minority students, not sweeping system change.

Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings became the latest member of the billionaire education club on Tuesday, when he announced the creation of a $100-million philanthropic foundation. 

"I’m so blessed to be able to do this," Mr. Hastings wrote in a Facebook post, thanking his company's employees and 57.4 million subscribers for "making this possible."

The first two gifts of the fund, which will be led by former New Schools for New Orleans Chief Strategy Officer Neerav Kingsland, will give $1.5 million to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. 

Recommended: What is your social class? Take our quiz to find out!

In the past decade, tech moguls from Bill Gates to Mark Zuckerberg have proven eager to fix the country's underperforming schools, often with a "disruptive" mindset.

"West Coast philanthropy is marked by innovation, it's about disruption, it's about change," Emmett D. Carson told The New York Times in October. Dr. Carson serves as CEO of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, through which Hastings is funding the "creatively named" Hastings Fund (Hastings's own description). Donors coming from Silicon Valley "bring this go-big or go-home willingness to fail, and see failure as a good outcome if you learned something," Carson added. 

Critics say that this gung-ho experimentalism is better suited to the boardroom than to the classroom, where a "willingness to fail" affects students, their families, and communities. Visionary donors' grand plans have often gone sour without support from the teachers and parents most impacted by sweeping change: Mark Zuckerberg's own $100-million investment in schools in Newark, N.J., for instance, has become something of a cautionary tale for investors. 

But the Hastings Fund may learn from earlier investors' growing history of trial, error, and success, including Mr. Hasting's own years in the education sphere: He led the push for more charter schools in California, where he was a member of the state's board of education from 2000 to 2004 (and named president in 2001).

Hastings has also supported a bevy of charter schools and appropriately "disruptive" approaches to learning, from Aspire Public Schools to the video-based Khan Academy and Rocketship Education, an elementary school network that uses so-called blended learning to deliver some daily lessons through computers, not certified teachers – meant to individualize learning and save teachers some time for the most struggling students, although the model has had mixed results. 

"Our aim is to partner with communities to significantly increase the number of students who have access to rich and holistic educational experiences," the Fund's website says, under the banner "All children deserve amazing schools." 

It's a sentiment that nearly everyone in education agrees with; the question is how to provide it. A particularly heated debate surrounds charter schools, which are managed privately but funded publicly. Advocates say their experimental approaches are not just beneficial, but vital in cities where district schools just aren't cutting it. Critics, on the other hand, say every dollar spent Can Netflix CEO's $100-million education fund avoid big-donor pitfalls? - Yahoo News:

 Big Education Ape: Netflix to settle out of court: CEO Reed Hastings Educational Role model New Orleans | Dailycens... http://bit.ly/1P4uehN

Big Education Ape: California School Boards Association’s President takes on Netflix CEO’s call for privatization f... http://bit.ly/1P4uhdr





Big Education Ape: Schooling in the Ownership Society: Netflix education: Favoring markets over democracy http://bit.ly/1P4uk95



Big Education Ape: Netflix CEO Thinks Local School Boards Have To Go | Missouri Education Watchdog http://bit.ly/1P4uq0e



Big Education Ape: Netflix CEO donates $2 million to local charter schools - The Technology Chronicles http://bit.ly/1P4upcU

What new L.A. schools chief Michelle King needs to do now - LA Times

What new L.A. schools chief Michelle King needs to do now - LA Times:

What new L.A. schools chief Michelle King needs to do now

ough she has worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District for 38 years, Michelle King hasn't had many opportunities to voice a public opinion about its schools, or to lead them in new directions. As a high-ranking administrator — the second-in-command under the two previous superintendents — it was her job to help carry out the initiatives of others. She is known for her ability to get along with people, whether they are strongly pro- or anti-school reform or somewhere in between — a necessary skill for high-level survival in such a contentious and often polarized district.

But now, as L.A. Unified's newest superintendent, King will need to be more than just cooperative and collegial; to succeed in such a troubled district, she'll have to be a strong leader, willing to set an agenda and speak forcefully on behalf of students. Her days in the shadows are over, and not much is known yet about her ability and willingness to take on the teachers union or the school board or the reform movement. King will undoubtedly do a better job of listening than her predecessor John Deasy did during his tumultuous administration. “Collaboration” appears to be her favorite word, based on her meeting with The Times editorial board Thursday. But at times she's going to have step up and do a Deasy: take an unpopular position and stick to it in the face ofWhat new L.A. schools chief Michelle King needs to do now - LA Times:

Senate, House Democrats explain why they oppose Detroit schools reform legislation MLive

Senate, House Democrats explain why they oppose Detroit schools reform legislation | MLive.com:

Senate, House Democrats explain why they oppose Detroit schools reform legislation

Members of the state House and Senate Democratic caucuses say they don't support legislation introduced Thursday that would restructure the debt-plagued Detroit Public School system.

In a joint statement, lawmakers said for Detroit Public Schools to succeed, the district needs to be led by a "locally elected school board that maintains the same authority as every other school district in the state."

They also said lawmakers should look beyond the school aid fund when looking at how to pay for the plan, whose price tag has been estimated at $715 million over 10-years. Sen. David Knezek, D-Dearborn Heights, suggested examining "tobacco settlement money, a loan or a conglomeration of various funding sources."

"Every child in Detroit deserves access to the same quality of education that we demand for children across our state," the statement said. "To achieve this, we believe certain principles must be followed. Among them are a locally elected school board that maintains the same authority as every other school district in the state; not a board saddled with long-term contracts that it did not negotiate, or stuck with a superintendent who isn't producing results for students and taxpayers."

Related: How Snyder plans to sell his $715 million plan for Detroit schools to Michigan lawmakers
Legislation introduced Thursday by Sen. Geoff Hansen, R-Hart, laid the groundwork for restructuring the roughly 47,000 student district, which has been hit hard over the last decade by declining enrollment and low student achievement.

The legislation would effectively break the district into two parts: A new district, known as the Detroit Community School District, where teaching and learning would take place, and the old district, which would exist only to address the district's estimated $500 million of debt.

The legislation would also create a nine-member appointed board to lead the district until new board members are elected – they would run on the November Senate, House Democrats explain why they oppose Detroit schools reform legislation | MLive.com:

Flint water crisis: Michigan attorney general to investigate - CNN.com

Flint water crisis: Michigan attorney general to investigate - CNN.com:

Flint water crisis: Michigan attorney general to investigate

(CNN)The water crisis in Flint -- the Michigan city grappling with toxic lead contamination in its drinking water following a cost-saving measure -- is now getting high-level attention from the state's top legal official.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Friday he will investigate the water crisis to determine whether any Michigan laws have been violated.

"The situation in Flint is a human tragedy in which families are struggling with even the most basic parts of daily life," Schuette said in a statement. "While everyone acknowledges that mistakes were made, my duty as attorney general requires that I conduct this investigation."

Did Michigan officials hide the truth about lead in Flint?

Schuette's announcement comes amid a situation that has seen the governor order the National Guard to help deliver clean water to the city's nearly 100,000 residents 70 miles northwest of Detroit, as experts raise concern about rising levels of poisonous lead in children's blood and other health concerns.

Flint learns of Legionnaires' disease spike as water crisis continues

This morning, I am formally announcing an investigation into the Flint water crisis. pic.twitter.com/tACdXmw79g

— A.G. Bill Schuette (@SchuetteOnDuty) January 15, 2016

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who already has declared a state of emergency, on Thursday asked President Barack Obama to do so at a federal level -- a move the governor says could provide aid such as grants for temporary housing and home repairs as the city deals with damage done to its water system.

The water switch

The damage stems from a decision two years ago by the state -- which had taken over the city's budget amid a financial emergency -- to save money by switching Flint's water supply from Lake Flint water crisis: Michigan attorney general to investigate - CNN.com:

 

Critics say charter schools draining vital dollars | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Critics say charter schools draining vital dollars | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana:

Critics say charter schools draining vital dollars

Financially strapped school districts in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and elsewhere are being hurt by rising amounts of dollars being moved from districts to charter schools, the executive director of the Louisiana School Boards Association and others said Thursday.

In the past three years, local education dollars rerouted from traditional public schools to charter schools rose by 39 percent in the East Baton Rouge Parish school district — to $28.3 million — and 73 percent in the Jefferson Parish school system — to $4.5 million, according to state figures.

Local dollars redirected from the Lafayette Parish school system to charter schools rose from nearly $460,000 two years ago to $9.6 million during the past school year.

Scott Richard, who leads the LSBA, said the trend points up the need to ban the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from overriding local decisions on charter schools.

“BESE is overriding local school board decisions in the name of choice, and the local district is left holding the bag,” Richard said.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

• Critics say charter schools draining vital dollars
• Livingston maintains its grade-A reputation
• Jeff Sadow: How Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards could be a Grinch when it comes to school vouchers
• Budget cuts coming again to East Baton Rouge schools, conflicting signals as to how deep
• James Gill: Louisiana elects a real Democrat for top job

Gov. John Bel Edwards pushed legislation to impose just such a ban when he was a member of the state House.

Charter schools are public schools run by nongovernmental boards, and their advocates often clash with the LSBA and other traditional public school groups.

The schools are supposed to offer innovative alternatives to traditional classrooms and give families more options when faced with troubled schools.

The state has 144 charter schools, according to the state Department of Education.

That includes 35 known as Type 2, which are authorized by BESE.

Richard said those schools are a big reason dollars are increasingly being diverted from school districts, often against the wishes of local educators.

“How far do you go in the name of choice?” he asked. “Do you break a local school system to offer duplicative choices that Critics say charter schools draining vital dollars | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana:

Bed-Stuy Has Too Many Charter Schools, Local Education Council Says - Bed-Stuy - DNAinfo.com New York

Bed-Stuy Has Too Many Charter Schools, Local Education Council Says - Bed-Stuy - DNAinfo.com New York:

Bed-Stuy Has Too Many Charter Schools, Local Education Council Says

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A Brooklyn education council is concerned that too many charter schools are teaching children in the district.

The Community Education Council for District 16 worries that if additional charter schools make their way into Bedford-Stuyvesant, the neighborhood will reach a “tipping point” of having more students in charter schools than those in traditional public schools.

In a letter to the Department of Education’s Panel for Educational Policy, CEC 16 members said the area has 44 percent of its kindergarten through eighth-grade students enrolled in charter schools.

The concerns come as a new, 450-seat Success Academy is proposed to open in the district in the fall, according to the group.  

As the panel and state review the application for a Success Academy to be co-located with P.S. 25 on Lafayette Avenue near Marcus Garvey Boulevard, along with future charter applications, the CEC is asking them to consider the impact on the future of traditional public school education in central Brooklyn.

“Not every child thrives in a charter school environment and therefore we must work to preserve and improve traditional school options in our community,” the letter reads.

“Additionally, please understand that District 16 is in the midst of significant transition due to shifting demographics and increasing charter school placements at this time could hinder the good work of improving enrollment at traditional public schools that is now underway.”

Current enrollment in traditional public K-8 schools is at 5,098, according to the CEC. Charter enrollment is at 3,923.

As of December 2015, there were eight charter schools in the district, state data shows.

With parents creating their own group to seek ways to improve education in the district and the continued rallying from elected officials and community members fora gifted and talented program, residents have long called attention to the state of education in the area.

The district recently received a new Interim Acting Community Superintendent afterformer Superintendent Evelyn Santiago stepped down at the end of 2015.

The city has also proposed several co-locations for district schools, citing low enrollment.

“By putting more charter schools there, they’re handicapping enrollment for Bed-Stuy Has Too Many Charter Schools, Local Education Council Says - Bed-Stuy - DNAinfo.com New York:

Common Core targeted in video suggesting money as motive | NewBostonPost

Common Core targeted in video suggesting money as motive | NewBostonPost:

Second Common Core video released as Mass. considers ballot proposal to dump the standards

BOSTON – A second undercover video portraying Common Core as an exercise in profiteering by publishers including Boston textbook giant Houghton Mifflin Harcourt surfaced Thursday, showing an executive of the company saying such education initiatives are “never about the kids.” The video, from Project Veritas, a nonprofit journalism outfit that on Tuesday released similarly damning footage, may prompt some remarks by Republican presidential hopefuls during planned debates Thursday night. At least, that appears to be the hope of James O’Keefe, the group’s founder:

Yes it should... And it may be after video #2... https://t.co/NWc2VnFVgR

— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) January 13, 2016

The latest video shows a woman, Amelia Petties, identified as a Houghton account executive, saying that education initiatives like Common Core are “never about the kids” and that they present lucrative business opportunities for companies that produce textbooks, training and other curriculum materials.

“There’s always money in it,” Petties says in the video. “And slapping a new name on it, which my my case, I hope they do.”

“Then I can sell a (expletive) ton of training around whatever you’re calling it,” she says.

Petties has worked for Houghton for a little more than a year, according to career networking site LinkedIn, and is responsible for “strategy, project plan and execution of HMH professional development and professional services proposals for the K-12 market.”

A phone number listed for Petties has been disconnected. There was no immediate response to an email sent to her at Houghton.

As with any video, there’s no easy way to tell how much it has been edited or manipulated, or to judge the context of what is being shown.

Dianne Barrow, a Houghton sales executive depicted in the video released Tuesday, told the Washington Post that she was fired the same day, because she had cast a “bad light” on the company. Barrow said the comments she is seen making on the video had been taken out of context and wer

- See more at: http://newbostonpost.com/2016/01/14/second-common-core-video-released-as-massachusetts-considers-ballot-proposal-to-dump-the-standards/#sthash.MneGtYK8.dpuf

This time, emphasize teachers - Daily Press

This time, emphasize teachers - Daily Press:

This time, emphasize teachers

Last week, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was reauthorized and gives us an opportunity to discuss education reform now in a positive, forward-thinking manner. Many of the concerns heavy on our minds these days — unrest in parts of the world and global economic disparities — are challenges we will not resolve completely and will pass on to our children. Therefore, we must strive to create the best education system possible so they may address these problems as well as others that will inevitably arise.

Let us envision what that system should be. Of course we want our children to develop knowledge and skills useful to the workplace and to their roles as members of society. Students need the ability to read for comprehension, analysis, and synthesis, and the ability to write for explanation, comparison, and persuasion. But we also want students to develop mindsets that we value: tolerance of differences, openness to multiple perspectives, curiosity about the world, and creativity.

Fourteen years ago we had similar high hopes with the No Child Left Behind Act. But we have seen stagnated or diminished performance on state, national, and international assessments. Achievement gaps have been sustained with white and Asian students outperforming black and Hispanic students. The population of subgroups that are at risk of underachievement, such as English language learners and students living in poverty, has grown. Even the latest news that U.S. high school graduation rates have improved nonetheless reveals that rates for most minorities, English language learners and special education students are below the national average.

What can we do differently this time around? We know that teacher quality makes a difference for students. ESEA has eliminated the "highly qualified teacher" requirement from its language, but that does not mean we need to eliminate quality teaching from our schools.

Stories abound about the effect one teacher had on one famous person. But imagine a broader universe in which all students have effective teachers, not just one for one year, but multiple effective teachers, each year, for each subject area.

How do we accomplish this? It won't be easy. The teaching profession is not attractive these days. Low pay and losing 25 days per year to test prep and administration is disheartening to creative young people who want to make a difference in schools. ESEA may relieve some of these practices but we still have a long way to go. The fact that teacher salaries in the U.S. are only 60 percent of those of others with college degrees is an even stronger disincentive. The average starting salary for a teacher is $36,000 while that of a business major is $50,000 and of an engineer, $65,000.

For those who show in interest in becoming teachers, we do not prepare them well. The traditional model of three and a half years of coursework and a semester of student teaching does not do justice to the variety of instructional programs and classroom compositions that teacher graduates will find.

English language learners, for example, are the fastest growing subgroup in our schools This time, emphasize teachers - Daily Press:

Wister Parents Defeat Mastery and Offer Hope to Cooke and Huey Families | Parents United for Public Education

Wister Parents Defeat Mastery and Offer Hope to Cooke and Huey Families | Parents United for Public Education:

Wister Parents Defeat Mastery and Offer Hope to Cooke and Huey Families

Parent voices can bring about change and restore hope for Philly’s public neighborhood schools.

On January 11, 2016, The School district of Philadelphia announced Dr. Hite’s recommendation for Jay Cooke, Samuel B. Huey and John Wister – the three schools slated for renaissance charter conversion last fall. Dr. Hite’s recommendation announced that John Wister be removed from the process due to faulty data, Jay Cooke be taken over by charter operator Great Oaks and Samuel B. Huey be given to charter operator Global Leadership Academy.

After 2 months of organizing to keep their district public school status and working with teachers and school administration to create transformational plans to improve the quality of education, parents at each of these three schools are ready to take the next step to ensure that their voices will continue to be heard.

Parents at Wister have vowed to join forces with both Huey and Cooke parents to continue their fight to keep their schools out of charter operators’ hands. Although Hite has made his recommendation to hand over Cooke and Huey to charter providers, the victory for Wister proves that this fight is not over. From the start, School District officials have insisted to parents that there was no win for public education at these three schools. The victory for Wister proves that there is hope.

As parents, we will not continue to accept the status quo of misrepresentation, manipulation, and dissension Wister Parents Defeat Mastery and Offer Hope to Cooke and Huey Families | Parents United for Public Education:

STATE SENATOR MENDOZA TEACHER JAIL AUDIT REQUEST APPROVED- DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP - Perdaily.com

STATE SENATOR MENDOZA TEACHER JAIL AUDIT REQUEST APPROVED- DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP - Perdaily.com:

STATE SENATOR MENDOZA TEACHER JAIL AUDIT REQUEST APPROVED- DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP

(Mensaje se repite en Español)



It's hard for a proposed investigation/audit of "teachers jail" to be taken seriously, when their unchallenged bogus initial assumption still is that teachers are being sent to teachers jail for "being verbally abusive, excessively missing work, failing to follow the rules for giving standardized tests, or sexual misconduct." Nothing could be further from the truth and they all know it. The vast majority of these teachers are being sent to teacher jail because LAUSD will save approximately $60,000 a year in combined salary and benefits in just the first year, when they replace a falsely charged teacher with a cheaper and younger teacher at a fraction of the cost. And the savings goes on year after year. This fact is somehow mysteriously never mentioned when "bad teacher jail teachers" are the topic of discussion. So how could any audit that is based on false premises ever come up with anything that even remotely resembles the what's really going on?

Like the iPad investigation of ex-LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy that is now well over a year old, these kinds of investigations never go anywhere. Just ask departing three-time LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines who also came and went without any investigation/audit of charges against him of sexual harassment and conflict of interest.

Nowhere in this "Audit Request" is the fact mentioned that 87% of targeted teachers are over 40 and at the top of the salary scale. And that many have only a few years before they would have vested in lifetime health benefits valued at STATE SENATOR MENDOZA TEACHER JAIL AUDIT REQUEST APPROVED- DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP - Perdaily.com:

Is the Flint City Hall break-in the Michigan version of “Watergate”??? | Eclectablog

Is the Flint City Hall break-in the Michigan version of “Watergate”??? | Eclectablog:

Is the Flint City Hall break-in the Michigan version of “Watergate”???

Last December, a Flint government staffer returned from the Christmas break and discovered that an office in City Hall had been broken into. So far as anyone knows, only a television was stolen. However, that same office was used to store documents related to Flint’s water system and Flint’s new mayor doesn’t know if any of them are missing:

Officials say a recent city hall break-in occurred in an office containing documents related to the city’s water system.

Flint police previously reported a break-in at City Hall, 1101 S. Saginaw St. over the holiday break, butinformation released Monday, Jan. 11, confirmed the break-in happened at a vacant executive office in the mayor’s suite that contained documents related to the city’s water system.

“The office that was broken into is where some water files are kept,” Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said. “However, at this point it’s hard to tell if any files were taken. The only thing we know for sure was stolen is a TV.”

Flint Police Chief James Tolbert said investigators were working to discover if any documents connected to the city’s water system were taken. […]

“The video doesn’t show anything,” Tolbert said. “Officers are now doing a security survey.”

Oddly, no other offices were broken into, even those containing computers, laptops, and other far more valuable items than a single television.

I’m also told that the investigation has been taken out of the hands of local law enforcement and has been taken over by the State Police which is, of course, a government agency that is part of the Snyder administration.

Those of us who are old enough can remember the Watergate Hotel break-in in the early 70s. The subsequent cover-up and then explosive investigation and trial uncovered all manner of shady practices and “dirty tricks” by the Nixon administration and led to his eventual impeachment and removal from office.

With the Snyder administration stalling and stalling and stalling to keep federal officials from investigating what happened in Flint that led to poisoned drinking water, this has a very familiar whiff of scandal emanating from it.

Call it Watergate II, the Flint Edition.

Governor Snyder could put much of this to rest by simply opening the books and doing away with the law that allows him to hide behind executive privilege and evade 

Calif. education: No single grades for schools, state board urges - ContraCostaTimes.com

Calif. education: No single grades for schools, state board urges - ContraCostaTimes.com:

Calif. education: No single grades for schools, state board urges

For more than a decade, the federal Department of Education has behaved like a national dean of students, punishing schools where all groups of students fail to achieve.

On Wednesday, California's State Board of Education signaled, as expected, its intention to reclaim more authority, to deploy more yardsticks of school success and to press the federal government to toe its line.

The state wants to deter Uncle Sam from assigning schools a single grade -- in the same way that the state board intends to dump its annual report card, known as the Academic Performance Index, the single score on a 200-to-999 scale representing the worth of each of the state's approximately 10,000 public schools.

That index, anxiously awaited every spring by parents and Realtors, has been despised by educators, who see it as a narrow and unfair summary of each school. State education officials suspended it after 2013.

In a letter dated Wednesday, the state suggests that federal officials should adopt "multiple measures" for judging school performance and that the lowest-performing school label should not be based largely on test scores. The letter, signed by state board President Mike Kirst and state schools Superintendent Tom Torlakson, also suggests that student performance should be based on "competency" rather than measured by grade level.

Civil rights and children's advocates see the API, for all its flaws, as a means of transparency and accountability.

Whatever replaces the API, "We need to make sure that for all kids and all parents there's a general understanding of how schools are doing," said Samantha Tran of the Oakland-based advocacy group Children Now. Too many metrics will muddy the picture, she said.

The state is submitting its letter as the federal Department of Education drafts rules for Calif. education: No single grades for schools, state board urges - ContraCostaTimes.com:

Teacher misconduct investigations to be focus of state audit | EdSource

Teacher misconduct investigations to be focus of state audit | EdSource:

Teacher misconduct investigations to be focus of state audit

At a legislator’s request, the California State Auditor will audit the cost and results of Los Angeles Unified School District’s practice of removing teachers from the classroom, sometimes for hundreds of days, when the district investigates allegations of misconduct.

“The need for this audit is two-fold,” said State Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, who requested the audit and won approval for it at a Joint Legislative Audit Committee hearing Wednesday. “We must rapidly resolve issues of sexual misconduct and terminate such employees, while also exonerating those employees who are innocent to keep them from languishing in limbo.”

Misconduct allegations include being verbally abusive, excessively absent from work, failing to follow the rules for administering standardized tests or engaging in sexual misconduct. The audit, which is expected to take eight months, will determine the cost of removing teachers from classrooms and whether disciplinary actions are “fair and just” in their timeliness and appropriateness, Mendoza said.

Teachers accused of misconduct and banned from classrooms are known as “housed teachers” by the district, but Los Angeles teachers often refer to such expulsions as being sent to “teacher jail.” Before the district changed its policy in May 2014, teachers under investigation were required to report to rooms in administrative buildings to spend school hours under supervision. They now are allowed to remain Teacher misconduct investigations to be focus of state audit | EdSource: